


feel it from your heart to your fingertips

by itsgameover



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Bad Flirting, Bedroom Sex, Confessions, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, Football | Soccer, I will k-word someone if I see them calling it 'sOcCeR', Jongdae tries to flirt but it's not quite as good as one may expect, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Strangers to Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:40:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28573173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsgameover/pseuds/itsgameover
Summary: Jongdae has no idea how football works, he only sits on the bleachers because his friends do it too, but if Minseok is playing then he may as well pay attention.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 77
Collections: Vargavinter Round 1





	feel it from your heart to your fingertips

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Vargavinter Fest Round 1, Prompt VV1-144  
> Wow, this was a rollercoaster! Writing this took so long and I eventually had to ask for an extension in fear of not being able to complete it in time, burned through half of my extension period and said "ok, the beast is ready!"  
> I would have liked it to write it longer, if I'm being honest with you my original idea extended years into the story and was going to be an estimated 20-22k long, but as it is I'm content. I told the story the prompt inspired me to write, even if I deviated a bit from what the prompt said oops, and I'm happy with it.  
> Also my best friend told me "this is so good, this is so good!" that my only option was to surrender and accept that this is a good story, albeit imperfect in some parts.  
> Regardless, this note is to say thank you to the mods, thank you to the prompter and thank you to you, the reader, may you enjoy this story <3

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Football is a quite interesting sport. It requires a lot of people, twenty-two to be precise, and a ball that can be either cheap like a plastic bottle or as expensive as a Gucci shirt. People run a lot, people get injured doing the stupidest things and more often than not there is a shouting match between the players because someone probably made a mistake and hit the ball with his hand instead of you know, a foot. 

It’s strange and for someone naturally averted to contact sports, Jongdae shies away from playing and instead wishes his best friend Luhan a good match and joins Joohyun, Seungwan and Baekhyun in the bleachers, sitting cross legged and sharing snacks while one and the other cheer on their friends as they endure the training. Some days they help each other with uni work, like helping Seungwan with her ‘conductual surveys’ -psychologist are weird- or letting Baekhyun take photos of them in different angles to sketch the same person in a different lighting and occasionally draw horns on Joohyun’s head (she adores it)

Lately, with exam seasons forcing everyone to do a one night stand with their paperwork due in 6 hours or drink five energy drinks to be able to cram through pages and pages of a book for some ungodly close exam, more often than not, the group of friends don’t even get to meet in the bleachers.

Jongdae has no reason to be sad about missing the ball hitting event, he scarcely cares about football, only paying proper attention when there is a bet at stake. If anything he is sad to miss weekly time with the animated quartet, he really wanted to ask Joohyun if she is really willing to give Junmyeon a chance or if they are just fooling around, even if Seungwan would immediately coo and make her friend blush like a tomato. 

He is missing bleachers time today because his project is due in 3 days and he hasn’t even begun to type the title. For quite some time he feels stuck in the white blank page, cursor blinking softly on his laptop’s screen, tapping with his yellow highlighter the surface of the neurobiology book he just borrowed from the library. He has the prime spot for writing, right next to a big window that overviews the football field, the AC is cranked up so he feels extra chilly, drinking matcha tea and eating green onion chips. 

Honestly, Jongdae is just thinking about the beautiful day outside, the wonderful sunshine and how nice the grass looks, he is not at all thinking about the new guy running laps around the field, bandana holding back bleached hair, muscle shirt and short black pants.

Luhan told him about him earlier, when they were walking together from the dorms. The thing is that Jongdae was too busy thinking about his stupid project that he just hummed non concomitantly while his friend went on and on about his football things. 

And as he struggles to concentrate on something useful, like writing at least one line of text that makes sense instead of babbling about how incredible is the parasympathetic nervous system and how wonderful is it that humans have one (makes no sense, must delete before finishing the whole thing), the thought of meeting the stranger on the field feels a little bit like a hopeful thing, like a reward for a job well done… job he has barely even started if that crappy sentence is worth anything. 

He shakes his head gently, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the man stretching by the bleachers, all pale skin and pretty sturdy if the distance makes justice to how this guy is built, focusing all his will in finishing at least 1000 words of the research project before lunch time. He can’t deal with failure now, not now when he feels like he has finally outgrown his awkward phase -yes, at 22- and has the respect of a few classmates and the appreciation of quite a few professors. Jongdae will ace the project and will text Joohyun to ask about her relationship status because that’s what friends do. Yes, future neuroscientist Kim Jongdae has everything under control. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Absolutely nothing is under control. If Jongdae’s project were a physical object it would be a garbage can puked on by three rabid dogs and then set on fire by a pyromaniac. It’s 1pm on Thursday and the project’s due in less than two hours and he is surviving solely on three double caffeinated coffees and one chocolate donut. Two thousand words away from the milestone and he hasn’t even proofread anything. Dumpster fire, a thesis by Kim Jongdae. 

He can do this, he can, he has to. The librarian keeps eyeing him weird and he keeps hunching his shoulders and hiding behind his laptop’s screen, weird hunchback of notre dame copycat with everything and stone friends, like the wall he spoke to an hour ago just to check if the explanation for the vascular effects the PSNS has made sense or not (it did, surprisingly). 

For some good ten minutes he is just typing furiously, then he takes a five minute breather and stares mindlessly out of the window, knowing damn well that practice today is at 4pm but caught out guard by the sight of the new guy doing laps. He panics about his project, checks the time, 1:35pm, sighs deeply and focus back on writing about the cavernous nerves from the prostatic plexus like a totally serious dude who isn’t thinking about sex jokes like a 12 year old child. 

Gladly surprised, Jongdae submits the work just in time, 2:25pm telling him he’s done it five minutes before the deadline. Wonderful work, excellent performance, last minute dark horse. Jongdae stretches out only to find that his body is now made of bubble wrap, popping sounds coming from every and any joint in his bones. The kinks of his neck and shoulder are far more than his actual kinks. 

With a little actual stretch outside the library and the good old company of Baekhyun, running from the arts building to the medicine one to bother Chanyeol before football practice and having a small lunch of fries and burgers with his friend, Jongdae feels more like a human being. Still with leftover fries and checking the time, 3:20pm wonderful timing!, he heads for the football field, ready to catch Seungwan off guard and ask her if her date with that Chaeyoung girl went well. Hopefully it did, his next drink in the in-campus bar depends on it and how faithful Joohyun is to the bet. 

“Are you Jongdae?” a voice asks as soon as he deposits his backpack in the bleachers and stretches his arms like a sleepy kitten. Jongdae turns around, one eye closed and waiting for the mystery man to unveil himself and holy prostatic plexus, what a sight. The man is gorgeous, with pretty angled eyes, luminous and shiny, heart shaped face and bleached hair tied back in the tiniest of ponytails, cute and soft head resting over shoulders built like a bodybuilder.

“Em, hello?” the stranger waves a hand and Jongdae blushes like a fainting maiden. 

“Oh, sorry! Yes, I’m Jongdae, you are…?”

“Minseok, nice to meet you” Minseok stretches out his hand and Jongdae awkwardly shakes it “Luhan told me to give you something”

Jongdae’s gaping ‘oh’ is followed by a sounding ‘ah!’ when he sees the five packs of gummy bears. 

“I knew he wouldn’t ask him for a date, he is a coward!” he says, blushing when he notices the man’s furrowed brows and side smile “Luhan he… well we had a small bet. We like bets! I told him that if he asked Zitao out I would buy him dinner and if not he owed me well, this!” he shakes the little gummy packs. Out of words and frankly out of breath, the guy is smiling and it’s such a gummy smile! so cute!, he opens one of the packs and offers it “Want some?”

“Sure thing” Minseok says, taking a seat next to Jongdae and picking two gummy bears, one blue and one green.

“So…” Jongdae starts after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Minseok eyes him with one raised eyebrow “Football huh?” and perhaps he is one the worst casual talkers but Minseok is smiling and speaking about his favourite sport, so he is at least not the worst casual talker. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

“And then she invited me to a bubble tea shop, which of course I said hell yeah, because how could I possibly say no to Park Chaeyoung?” Seungwan makes a pause, for dramatic effect, and then continues to ramble about how nice and how cool her possibly soon-to-be artsy girlfriend is. 

Jongdae stopped paying attention mid-conversation when in the middle of the practice match, Minseok takes off his shirt and lays down in the just mowed lawn. Jongdae only has a couple of seconds to truly see him before he is covered by the rest of his team, celebrating… something, but he can easily say that he is truly built like a statue. Holy heavens, what a man. 

“Dae, Dae!” Joohyun’s voice pierces through the fog of his absolutely non-public safe thoughts, making him jump slightly and rearrange in his seat in case something becomes visible “Are you okay?” she asks, genuinely concerned, right hand on his shoulder. 

Jongdae shakes his head adamantly “I’m coolio” he says, making finger guns

“Then what is it?” Joohyun insists, leaning forward to press a hand on his forehead, making him lean back a bit “You are distracted and hot like a little furnace. Do you have a fever? I know I’m just a student but I’m on the road to become a doctor.”

“Joohyun, leave him alone, he is not sick,” Seungwan interjects, picking a chip from the bag Baekhyun offers “he just has the hots for the new dude.”

“I do not!” Jongdae protests but Joohyun is already gaping, a wicked smile quickly gaining over her surprise as she turns so casually towards the field, where Minseok and Junmyeon are currently high fiving. Junmyeon looks at the bleachers, Joohyun waves her hand, Minseok turns to look, Jongdae panics and looks away. 

“Oh boy, you like Minseok?” Baekhyun pretty much screams, smiling wide. “I mean the guy is built pretty but man, I always thought you liked them tall… like Sehun!”

Seungwan quips an eyebrow, “who is Sehun?”

“Dance major,” Baekhyun answers around a mouthful of chips. “Jongin’s, aka Dae’s brother, friend, tall and serious, a bottom with a strong personality.”

“He probably liked him because he was a bottom, let's face it,” Joohyun assures, receiving an adamant nod from Baekhyun.

Jongdae sighs dramatically, hands over his face. “Can you stop talking about my sex life?”

“Are you having sex talks in the side of a football match?” Minseok asks, a strange sort of smile on his lips and Jongdae wants to fucking vanish off the surface of the planet 

“As if we could talk about anything else, you haven’t had a real match in months” Joohyun says, saving Jongdae from embarrassment. “The bet is still on, Kim,” she says, turning to Junmyeon who approaches with the stance of a man who really wants to impress a pretty girl. 

“What bet?” Minseok tilts his head, looking at Jongdae who really really wants to die. 

“Ah, you’ll see,” Baekhyun answers instead “Joohyun and Junmyeon are what one would call fuck buddies so their bet is probably about it.”

Joohyun repeatedly smacks Baekhyun with her backpack as Junmyeon trots away to the other side of the field, Minseok’s laugh distracting Jongdae from his embarrassment.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Turns out the bet was just a cheeseburger if the team scored two goals. Baekhyun got a blemish on his right arm because of a cheeseburger. 

“It serves him well for his loose tongue,” Baekhyun flips her off and Joohyun just laughs. 

The team won their first match of the season and decided to celebrate it by going out to the nearest and cheapest fast food place. Showering first because Chanyeol attempted to hug Baekhyun and Joohyun screamed when he raised his arms. It’s all about testosterone and sweating buckets in the field, huh. 

Jongdae sits between Seungwan and Baekhyun, waiting for the players to arrive after what everyone hopes is a thorough shower. Other people were there, friends or siblings of other players, like Sejeong, Junmyeon’s little sister, or Seulgi, who Jongdae knew as Joohyun’s ex and is not discovering she is Minseok’s half sister. They look nothing alike except for one thing, the same monolid eyes. No one expected Jongdae to make the connection since he met Minseok less than two months ago. He still feels ashamed and makes a mental note to remember that they have different parents but the same mother.

“Do you think they fuck in the showers?” Baekhyun asks.

Sejeong scoffs, “considering that Junmyeon is a boring heterosexual, nah.”

Joohyun chokes on her drink, Jongdae can’t help but agree with that reaction. 

It takes a moment for the small way too brightly illuminated fast food restaurant to fill with the boisterous sounds of eleven men walking in. And it’s very entertaining to watch the staff panic as the troupe, led by Junmyeon and Chanyeol, swarm the room, scanning for the non-footballers and sauntering towards them like small children in search of their friends. 

“Well, hello there,” Junmyeon says, leaning down a bit in a mockery of a bow. Joohyun rolls her eyes and looks away. Seungwan is laughing. 

“Have you ordered already?” Chanyeol asks.

“Nope, we were waiting for you, kids” Baekhyun replies, blowing a raspberry when the younger flicks his middle finger. 

“Can I sit here?” Minseok asks, standing by the side of Baekhyun, and Jongdae has to take a deep breath to force his heart to stay at bay. 

Minseok is usually very handsome, but there is something about post-match, just showered Minseok, wearing a loose red button up shirt with little yellow flowers on the cuffs, tucked inside washed up jeans, that makes Jongdae’s heart go insane. Very handsome, _ five stars every time that you come through _ and all that. 

“Baek!” Chanyeol yells, because he doesn’t know the concept of indoor voice, “come sit with me! I’ll order bacon and cheese fries, we can share!”

Baekhyun jumps like his ass was connected to a spring and moves across the table to sit by Chanyeol, looking at the menu to choose the biggest of the bacon and cheese fries. Jongdae giggles silently at the scene, then has a mini-meltdown because the space next to him is now empty and the person standing in front of the empty chair is Minseok, with his disarming smile and all.

“They are in love aren’t they?” Minseok asks as he sits down, arms crossed over the table.

Jongdae smiles, “Shh!” he admonishes “they don’t know it yet!”

Minseok’s mouth forms an adorable o and his eyes light up so adorably. 

“So,” Jongdae picks the menu, looking at the combos and burgers and fries without really looking “Have you thought of something to eat?”

“Not really,” he answers, shrugging, “I have never been to this place before.”

“You haven’t! Oh, boy, you are missing out!” he places the menu in front of Minseok without a second thought, because second thoughts much like second locations are a place of no return. “Look, this is the Double Patty Triple Threat Cheese and Quadra Bacon Burger. The name is long because the burger is big, it comes with fries and garlic mayo”

“I have never tried garlic mayo, is it good?”

“Delicious!” Baekhyun provides from the other side of the table, calling a waitress to pick the table’s order. “You should order it together, it’s big enough for two people!”

Jongdae panics, suddenly very aware that he was leaning over Minseok’s shoulder, hands dangerously close as he pinpointed the item in the menu. He leans back swiftly, feeling the tips of his ears warm up. Minseok turns to him with his lovely smile and Jongdae wonders for a moment if it’s possible to think a smile is prettier than the sun. 

“Well, I’m in if you want” Minseok says, handing the menu to the waitress

“Want what?” Jongdae asks, a little bit lost.

“Order together” the lovely man supplies, “I mean, if I don’t like garlic mayo you can keep it”

“Oh, oh… yeah sure” he scratches the nape of his neck as he watches Minseok order, nodding when he is asked if he is cool with Coca Cola. 

Joohyun looks at him for a second then turns to Junmyeon, sitting by her side, and whispers something that makes the man look at them both, smiling softly. The look they both wear resembles that of two proud parents and that thought terrifies Jongdae. Luhan looks at him like that sometimes too, but now he is too busy talking with Yixing, the new wing-back or full back wing or something near the goalkeeper.

And for sometime it stays like this, the little fast food restaurant filled with the vibrancy of way too many college students, voices and giggles traded from one side to the other, three tables pushed together so they are all connected. Someone tells a joke, someone else laughs, it’s oddly comfortable. 

And for a minute or two Jongdae just stares at nothing, then focuses on a small point in the table where the blue paint is chipped, and all of his comfort and calm goes down the drain as he starts to think that he has an essay to finish and an exam next thursday. Why the fuck did he agree to come dine with his friends? He should be in his dorm, studying or working on his essay or sleeping or something useful! 

“Here,” Minseok’s voice calls, placing the bulky red plastic tray between them and effectively causing Jongdae’s brain to short circuit. “They already cut the burger!” he says with excitement as he shoves Jongdae his half of the fries and puts the little container full of garlic mayo in between the two halves of burger. “Cheers,” Minseok raises his plastic cup full of soda and stares intently at Jongdae who takes a little bit longer than usual to understand the social cue of ‘clink your glass with his even if you don’t have glasses nor alcoholic drinks!’

“Cheers!” he responds, drinking from his own plastic cup as Minseok does. 

They eat but it’s never silent, Minseok conducting a very serious report of the nature of garlic mayo, tasting it alone, just a little bit of mayo on the tip of his plastic fork, then with a fry and then with a piece of bread from the burger. It’s a success, Jongdae would say, looking at how many fries he has eaten in the blink of an eye, emptying the garlic mayo like a man on a mission.

“Eat some,” he says and offers Jongdae a fry covered in garlic, but he doesn’t let Jongdae grab it, he just places it in front of his lips and watches with a satisfied smile as his victim chews. 

“Adorable,” Seungwan coos, elbowing Jongdae slightly. “Invite me to the wedding” 

Jongdae pretends not to hear her, taking an enormous bite of burger to swallow both his shame and his glee. Minseok keeps smiling, Jongdae pretends he doesn’t see him… for his own peace.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

“Do you wanna…” Minseok starts, Jongdae turns to him with a puzzled look. Minseok smiles. 

It must be the chilly air of the night that makes his ears turn red. It’s autumn after all. Maybe Jongdae should have brought a jacket like Minseok did, red faux leather. Maybe he should ask him for a hug.

“Hey, do you wanna come with us?” Luhan barges in, Yixing and Chanyeol behind him, the latter with his arm wrapped around Baekhyun’s shoulders. “We are going to a bar a few streets away.”

Minseok looks at Jongdae, it almost seems like he is asking what he is going to do. Jongdae feels his entire body boiling. It’s Friday and he should go to sleep already so he can study (the only word in his vocabulary that is written in bold letters) because next week is going to be jam packed with shit. But then again Minseok looks at him with bright eyes and a hesitant smile, hands in the pockets of his jeans, and Jongdae is too weak to say no. 

“Sure, why not,” he says, shrugging. Minseok nods and starts walking with the smaller group that heads for the after dinner party. 

“Luhan told me you study Neuroscience,” Minseok says, casually leaning back in the dark wood bar, a red beer in his right hand, body facing the crowd but face focused on Jongdae, eyes sharp and angled and shining like two little stars. It’s honestly nerve wracking. “Is it fun?”

Jongdae lolls his head from side to side, nursing his margarita with unsteady hands. “Some days it is. Some others you want to burn whoever decided that studying the brain was a good idea.”

Minseok’s laugh is delightful, even if Jongdae is 100% sure his joke wasn’t worth it, was it even a joke to begin with?

“I get that feeling,” he takes a swig of his drink and smiles, “I study Mechanical Engineering and it’s one hell of a ride.”

“Is that the building bridges engineering or the building robots engineering?”

“Neither,” Minseok laughs “It’s more about electricity and combustion and all the things that keep a home warm”

“Well, whoever marries you will have a good heat system,” and at soon as he says it, Jongdae has the sudden urge to hide in the deepest hole known to mankind and never come back. 

He ducks his head and drinks his margarita to the tune of a distant song that he does not recognize and he doesn’t care to actually listen because the only thing his mind can process right now is hey, what the fuck was that? Why won’t he ever think what he says? Why is he so awkward around pretty people?

When he raises his head is because Minseok is giggling. He looks up to see that Minseok’s eyes have widened but so has his smile and there is something in that expression that both gives Jongdae the need to say something and also to shut up forever. 

“Do you like winter or summer?” Minseok asks when they are headed out. It’s almost 3 am and Jongdae is already feeling sleepy. 

“Spring, actually.”

“Ah, that’s nice” Minseok walks with steady feet, looking ahead and with his chin high. It’s a lovely side profile. “It’s a good season because heat systems aren’t used that much, you know?”

“Y-yeah, I suppose,” he says, not even bothering to look at Minseok because he feels awfully subpar in this situation. 

Minseok smiles at him when they stop in front of his dorm building. “It’s been nice to see you, Jongdae, have a good night.” 

“Thanks,” he says as Minseok walks into the building, “you too!”

Minseok looks over his shoulder and waves his hand softly. Jongdae walks to his dorm like he is floating.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Luhan apparently has turned out to be quite close to Minseok. Jongdae comes to their shared dorm one afternoon, a couple of days after the last football game, and finds them chatting over a piece of work from their classes. Luhan barely lifts his head to say hi, but Minseok looks into his eyes and says “Nice to see you again, Dae!” before going back to working on formulas. 

Jongdae walks into his room and sits on the edge of his bed for a few seconds, backpack falling to the floor loudly, while quietly having a meltdown because oh my God, did Minseok just call him ‘Dae’? That was so cute and so uncalled for, why would he do that! It is strange and endearing and Jongdae is smiling. 

And it’s uncalled for that he walks out of the room half an hour later after a warm shower and finds Minseok still in the dorm, but now alone and looking at his phone. He looks up and Jongdae waves his hand, awkwardly because that’s the only way things seem to go around Minseok. 

“How are you doing?” he asks, smiling at him and Jongdae shivers. For some reason shivers. He’ll blame it on having damp hair in the middle of autumn. 

“Good, I have an exam next monday”

“Good luck!” Minseok raises his right hand and gives him a big thumbs up “Me too, actually, so good luck to both of us!” and then he gives him a double thumbs up and a wink! A wink!

“Thank you… Seok?” The nickname sounds strange and he is immediately regretting it afterwards. 

But Minseok smiles, “that’s my name, yeah” and then Luhan barges in from the bathroom “Oh, thank God, I thought you were dead!”

“I was!” Luhan retorts, raising his middle finger like an angry middle schooler “now come on, Yixing says he’ll buy fried chicken.”

Jongdae suddenly feels empty. “Oh, you are leaving?” 

“Yeah, Xing invited us over to watch a boxing match tonight. He lives in an apartment because he is fancy like that” Luhan mocks, putting the face of a man with constipation as he does a poor impersonation of a man drinking tea with a raised pinky.

“Ah, ok,” Jongdae scratches the nape of his neck, deflated like a balloon, “Hmm, enjoy!”

Minseok frowns at this, “You are not coming?” he asks and his voice sounds like he is actually concerned.

“No, I wasn’t invited” but before he looks like a miserable lump of ‘I’m abandoned here no one likes me!’, he adds “besides, I have to study, don’t worry about me”

“Ok, next time you have to go though!” the older man says, picking up his backpack from the chair by his side and pointing at Jongdae with his index finger.

"Ok,” Jongdae answers, ready to go to the ends of the world. 

“See you later, Dae”

“See you, Seok”

Jongdae sits in front of his desk with a stupid little smile on his face, opening the Neuroimmunology book with so much eagerness that someone looking at him would have thought he has received an award. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Joohyun’s birthday party is as she is: chaotic but enjoyable and ultimately memorable. She doesn’t want to spend any money on food and stuff like that so she just tells them to go together to a club uptown, expensive but cool and full of instagram-worthy places. And considering that she is the birthday girl and the overall commander chief of their friendship operations, neither Jongdae nor Seungwan or Baekhyun tell her no. 

Of course Joohyun invites Junmyeon and Junmyeon invites his football friends. Minseok is already outside the club when Jongdae arrives, sharing a cab with Seungwan and her girlfriend to save money. For a second they miss each other’s eyes and then it’s a moment for the history books as Jongdae swallows his ‘Oh my, how are you so handsome?’ upon coming across Minseok’s figure, clad in black leather pants and a shirt with way too many buttons left open, a thin golden necklace dancing on his collarbones, his hair styled in such a way that it frees his forehead and frames his face to look like a dilf. 

Jongdae has trouble keeping his act together when they greet each other. 

“You look…” Jongdae clears his throat, hoping to get rid of the high pitch in it “you look good!”

Minseok’s smile is blinding, “Thank you, you look good too!” 

“Thanks,” Jongdae answers. He would say something else, but Joohyun shows up, red sequin dress sparkling under the street lights, and they swarm her like the delightfully annoying friends they like to be when it’s someone’s birthday. 

It takes two more hours for Jongdae and Minseok to meet again. The club is indeed full of very insta-worth content, like a garden with a fountain and an outdoors bar with a bartender that makes little spins and tricks whenever he serves the drinks. It’s a good club, expensive as all hell, but good. 

Jongdae is tipsy so he aims for the bench furthest away from the crowds and the music. There is someone already sitting in there, someone looking away to the side, like he was keeping an eye on someone else. 

“Is this busy?” he asks, words only a little bit slurred. 

The man turns to face him and wow, Jongdae didn’t remember Minseok looked this handsome. He has a drink in his hand, one arm thrown over the bench, and he looks up at Jongdae with a smile that only grows when they make eye contact. 

“Not for you,” the man answers, putting down his arm as Jongdae takes a seat, gracelessly plopping down. Minseok giggles and Jongdae turns to look at him. “Having a good time on your best friend’s birthday?”

Jongdae shrugs, “the last time I saw Joohyun was an hour ago and Junmyeon had a hand shoved down her dress so I don’t think I want to be with her right now” he squints then, glancing at Minseok with accusatory eyes “how do you know she is my best friend?”

Minseok scratches the nape of his neck, averting his eyes, “Junmyeon told me.”

“That sounds like a lie, but ok.” Jongdae looks around then, nursing his empty plastic cup that started as a very lovely drink with minty flavour. “Are you drunk?” he asks his bench neighbour. 

“Nope, only had one drink,” Minseok sounds so assured, Jongdae wishes he had the confidence to lie with his whole chest like that. 

“I should go home,” the lights are blinding even in the garden, the people are crowding up around him and it’s starting to feel suffocated.

“Come with me,” Minseok adds and Jongdae turns to him with a raised eyebrow, “No… not like that, I just… we can save money if we go together. After all, we live on the same campus.”

Jongdae ends up agreeing and ends up requiring help to get into the cab because he tripped twice on the way out of the club. The ride is silent except for the radio methodically noting the day’s top news and then the weather. He looks out of the window when they say it’s going to rain, spotting a few menacing clouds and watching light cross the sky twice. 

He stretches his hand blindly and his fingers come across Minseok’s thigh. But he is getting sleepy and honestly he can’t think of something nicer than the feeling of Minseok’s fingers threading with his own, gentle fingertips grazing his dull skin like he is worth the time it takes from mere crushing on someone to falling in love, like he can be loved like he truly wants to. 

Maybe Minseok did grab his hand or maybe Jongdae dreamed it. Either way, he is blissfully happy, daydreaming (nightdreaming? sleepless dreaming), and he gets out of the cab on his own, waves goodbye to a Minseok that reluctantly let’s go of his arm as they part ways. When Jongdae turns, some twenty steps away, Minseok has turned to look at him too. 

“Goodnight Seokkie!” he yells and Minseok smiles, waves his hand and continues to walk. 

Jongdae texts him goodnight too, just to be safe. Minseok answers with a happy face, a heart and a star. It’s nice enough for him to sleep soundly. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Jongdae and Minseok keep meeting. It’s almost daily now and Jongdae is getting a little bit too used to hear Minseok say ‘hi, Dae!’ with his cheery voice, gummy smile and bright eyes. Sometimes he is wearing a striped baseball cap, some others his hair is floppy and a little bit greasy, some others styled back, parted over his forehead. Some days he goes to football practice with a muscle shirt and some others he wears a Barcelona FC shirt. The constant is Jongdae’s heart leaping from his chest, growing three times its size and going back to it’s normal size once Minseok’s smile isn’t directed at him.

Joohyun doesn’t tease him, which is strange, but that is perhaps she is too busy holding Junmyeon’s hand each and every time they are together in the same space. It’s endearing to watch her blush whenever he calls her pretty, to watch him lean down to kiss her cheek when she is sitting on the bleachers, and it makes Jongdae jealous. Not because he would date neither of them but rather because he wants that too. 

Sometimes he daydreams with Minseok’s hand in between his, how would it feel to have his fingers brush each other, to run circles with his thumb on the back of his hand, to kiss his knuckles like a love sick fool. 

He walks out of the bleachers everyday with Luhan and Minseok but more often than not, Minseok only talks to him. Asks him how did the game look from outside, if he likes football or if he is interested in other things. And he actually listens when Jongdae answers. 

Sweaty or not, Minseok always looks the same, gorgeous, adorable, cute, smiling at Jongdae whenever they talk. It makes Jongdae’s heart beat so loud that he is pretty sure the man opposite to him, standing on the threshold of Jongdae’s dorm building, can hear his heartbeat. 

“So, Seulgi’s mom has a chalet in the mountains. It’s near a skiing place and it’s pretty nice, I’ve been there before,” Minseok scoffs, his glance moves from Jongdae to somewhere in the background and then back to him. Jongdae looks over his shoulder and finds nothing. “She told me her mom gave her the keys to use it during the winter holidays and we wanted to go for New Year’s Eve.” He shifts his weight from one leg to the other, grabbing the strap of his backpack a little too tight. “Would you want to go with us?” 

"Me?”

“Yeah!” Minseok leans on the wall, visibly struggling to be casual “Hmm, she invited some other friends too! Joohyun and Myeon will go and I’m pretty sure Baekhyun and Chanyeol too. Seungwan and her girlfriend will too, I think.”

“Oh, sounds nice, I’m in. Tell me what I have to take with me” Jongdae says on autopilot, too busy dying because Minseok’s eye lit up in a second and his smile widened until it became brighter than the sun.

“Clothes and enough energy to burn in the snow!” the lovely man answers. 

“Noted” Jongdae smiles back, “Hmm, see you later!” he says and walks into the building with a big smile. 

Jongdae walks into his dorm to see Luhan perched on the edge of their kitchen counter, eating an apple and looking at him with a mischievous look, a knowing look, that tells him he knew of this in advance. 

“I can’t go because my family already paid a holiday to an actual warm place,” he tells him, smiling like the cat that got the cream “So, enjoy your New Years with your not-boyfriend, loser.”

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

On December 29th the sky is clear save for a few clouds that cross over the sun like sheep across a narrow road, slow but not bothering if you are patient. Junmyeon convinced his father to lend him his ram truck and got Baekhyun and Chanyeol to help him load the luggage. Turns out all of their suitcases fit in there, also the rented skiing equipment and the alcohol. 

“Ok,” Junmyeon starts, closing the tailgate, “Joohyun and I will go on the ram,”

“Chanyeol, Seungwan, Chaeyoung and I go in his car,” Baekhyun says, pointing at the tall man spinning his car’s keys on his index finger like the show off he is. 

“Ok, so Jongdae, you go with Minseok?” Junmyeon asks like he is not putting Jongdae in the spotlight of saying yes to spending two hours in a very small space with someone that makes his heart go wild with just a stupid little glance. 

“Yeah, sure,” Jongdae responds, shouldering his black and blue backpack, aiming for a nonchalant and casual approach rather than panicky teenager put in a school work with his crush. 

“All set, then?” when all of them nod, Junmyeon cheers, “Let’s go! Meet you at the door!”

Turning to look at Minseok, who smiles at him, fishing his keys from the back pocket of his light blue jeans, Jongdae realizes he’s doomed to blurt out ‘please, please, hold my hand’ at some point during the ride to Seulgi’s chalet. 

Jongdae climbs to his seat with hesitation. Minseok’s car is spacious and pretty, well kept and obviously loved by its owner, the seats upholstery looks as good as new and every little brand detail is polished. 

“Nice car,” Jongdae says, putting his backpack between his legs.

“Thanks, I bought it with insurance money,”

“Really? What happened?”

“A drunk man crashed my old car. It was parked so nothing bad happened but the car was trashed and the insurance paid way too much money considering the car was from the early 2000s”

“Well, that’s good, you got a pretty car,” Jongdae scoffs, he knows nothing about cars so he adds, panicking, “Like the owner!” and then the panic grows, his face burns and he turns to look out of the window like the stupid idiot he is. 

“Am I pretty?” Minseok asks, right hand coming to grab the gear level passing dangerously close to Jongdae’s thigh. 

“Yeah, of course, yeah,” Jongdae sighs.

“You are pretty too, Dae,” on a stop light, Minseok turns to look at him, eyes on him like a “I hope you know that I think you are a very amazing person”

“I think you are amazing too,”

“What I mean is…” the green light prompts someone behind them to honk their horn aggressively, to which Minseok sticks his head out of the window and yells something as he presses the pedal and accelerates. 

Jongdae gets a good laugh out of this and Minseok smiles too once the second of road rage has left him. The car remains in silence for a minute or two, only the gentle trumming of the engine keeping the atmosphere from excruciating. 

“What I was trying to say…” Minseok starts, gripping the steering wheel with both hands, then he inhales and exhales deeply. Jongdae is both concerned and intrigued. “God, this is not the way I wanted to say it and it’s going to be very awkward for both of us if the answer is not the same but…” he turns to Jongdae, “Fuck it, Jongdae, I really like you.”

“Oh,” Jongdae, like the dumbass he is, simply stares back, barely muttering a monosyllabic word and fidgeting with the edge of his navy blue hoodie. 

There is a hesitation there, in both the way Minseok’s hand trembles when it reaches for the turning light, a barely seen sheen of sweat on the edge of his hairline, tongue reaching out to lick his upper lip. 

“I like you too,” Jongdae answers and he leans forward to press a kiss to Minseok’s cheek.

Outside, someone wolf-whistles and when Jongdae turns to look, the neighboring car has its windows rolled down and both Seungwan and Baekhyun are sticking their heads out. 

Jongdae tells them to fuck off with his middle finger, Minseok kisses him on the lips in the next stop light. It’s a good car ride. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

“Welcome to the hut, suckers,” Seulgi says, standing outside the door of the chalet with a glass of wine in her right hand, wearing a big brown sweater and jeans with a pair of furry high boots. Behind her a lovely girl, taller than Seulgi, stands, stepping into the staircase once Seulgi has sauntered down to greet Seungwan and Chaeyoung. 

“This is Sooyoung, my girlfriend,” she introduces and the tall girl smiles at them, waving her hand but quickly shut once Seungwan has made a run to hug her. “Come on in, I’ll show you your the rooms”

“Hope you put Jongdae with his boyfriend,” Baekhyun teases, elbowing Jongdae repeatedly as he raises and lowers his eyebrows. 

“Hold on!” Seulgi yells, pushing Minseok’s right shoulder with enough force to make him step back “you fuckers confessed while I wasn’t there to see it? I fucking hate you.” 

“To be honest, we saw it only by chance,” Chaeyoung adds, smiling as Seungwan grabs her hand. 

Seulgi says something with clenched up teeth and Chanyeol laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the world. But it’s all well and good and soon she is leading everyone inside the big house with the sloped roofs covered in a thin layer of snow. 

“Joohyun, you and your boy toy are in the room to the right of the staircase,” Seulgi points to the room and the pair heads in with their luggage behind them. Jongdae is amazed by the fact Joohyun didn’t even bother to say something snarky in return. “Wannie, Chae, you’ve got my dad’s room, Queen size bed and paintings on the walls, enjoy it safely,” Seungwan pushes her as she walks past with Chaeyoung holding her hand, large pink duffle bag hanging from her right shoulder. 

“Seokkie,” Seulgi spins on her heels and looks at her half brother with a somewhat mischievous smile, “you are with Jongdae in my mom’s en suite room. So there is only one bed but it’s King size, so don’t complain, k?”

“I mean,” Minseok turns to Jongdae with a concerned expression trying to hide under a hesitant smile, “I don’t mind if you don’t mind.”

Jongdae, again, aiming to be nonchalant and cool, shrugs, “I don’t mind the bed,” he says but his voice betrays him, the pitch a little bit too high in the middle, and Seulgi laughs. 

“Enjoy the room, loves…” she singsongs and saunters away towards the stairs, returning to the top to communicate to everyone that there is only one place that delivers pizza to the chalet in case no one wants to cook. 

Minseok opens the door and steps aside, gesturing for Jongdae to walk in first. The room is spacious enough for both of them to have their own side with their own things. At some point Seulgi’s parents must have shared the room, since it has two nightstands, each with their own lamp. 

Jongdae places his suitcase on the foot of the bed and drops his backpack by its side, heading to snoop into the bathroom. It’s big and Seulgi’s maternal family must really like baby blue since the tiles of the walls are all in that color, with tiny cobalt flowers painted on some of them, like a pattern. It has a jacuzzi that Jongdae will surely not use and a shower with transparent walls around it. 

“You should see Seulgi’s bathroom,” Minseok’s voice pops in as Jongdae looks at the enormous mirror located across the jacuzzi, entirely separate from the mirror above the sink. “Hers is pink and red and bigger. She has a bathtub.”

“Oh, I wanted a bathtub,” Jongdae fake complains. 

“A shame, truly,” Minseok scoffs, crossing his arms as he leant on the threshold of the door. He clicks his tongue and looks around, “do you want to… go downstairs or… do something?”

Jongdae shrugs, “I don’t know, do you want to do something?”

“I don’t know,” the two of them stare at each other for a moment that feels oddly long. 

Jongdae feels a little bit itchy, like his hands are begging to hold something, to touch something. And it’s strange how he feels this way just by looking at Minseok. Even more strange is that wow, Minseok told him he likes him. Jongdae can’t still believe it, his hands ache for the need to hold unto his arms and ask if he really means it. 

But he meant it, they kissed. It was rushed and very non-romantic, but it happened and that is something that he would like to repeat. 

“Would you…” Jongdae looks around the room, grabbing the cuffs of his hoodie, “would you mind if we kissed again?”

Minseok smiles, “You don’t even have to ask,” and then he steps towards Jongdae, looking excited like a toddler. “Kiss me,” he whispers, hands behind his back. 

Cheeky, Jongdae thinks, but launches forward anyways, sating the itch in his hands as he grabs Minseok’s sleeves as his lips brush against his, stepping back shortly after. Feeling like he tasted something forbidden, Jongdae giggles. 

“That’s it?” Minseok asks, looking perplexed as Jongdae laughs. His hands come to grab Jongdae’s waist, pushing their bodies flush against each other, and even so Jongdae can’t stop laughing “What’s so funny? Tell me!” 

Jongdae shakes his head, swallowing his giggles “Nothing,” he says, “I’m glad you told me you liked me”

“I’m glad you like me back,” the smile on his face makes Jongdae’s heart burst and rebuild itself in a second. It’s warm and comfortable to be next to him so closely, even if he has to keep his mind to think of the lovely cozyness happening above the waist level and not how they are standing crotch to crotch.

“Hey, himbos, we are ordering pizza,” Joohyun yells, voice sounding close enough to infer she is in the room “Come out now or get no beer.”

Jongdae sighs, “Coming, mom!” and Joohyun’s resulting groan tells him she still hates the mom jokes. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

“See? It’s a green circle? Don’t panic!” Seulgi admonishes, moving to the head of a trail, while Jongdae is still struggling to put on his ski boots. 

“How am I supposed to be calm just because of a green circle?” Jongdae responds, the wooden bench a little bit too uncomfortable for his taste. 

The only ones who headed to the trail were Seulgi, Sooyoung, Jongdae and Minseok. It smells like victory for Seulgi who can mock Jongdae, aka her half-brother’s date and playdate, to her heart’s content. And it’s funny at first, when she mocks him for being slow and questions his abilities in bed because he has never seen him date anyone during his years in college (and Seungwan corrects her that he dated Sehun and Minseok knows Sehun and apparently used to be friends, it’s a small world after all). But after they headed out of the chalet in Minseok’s car, prepared to do some skiing, Jongdae feels like he’ll be a cautionary tale of what not to do in a skiing trail.

“It's easiest to walk in those boots if you take long steps,” Minseok says, offering his arm so Jongdae can use it as a grip to stand up, “Roll the bottom forward, heel-to-toe, and keep the lower leg straight as your body passes over.”

“Easier said than done,” Jongdae struggles to stick the poles on each side of the skis, all while Seulgi and her girlfriend have already started the path downhill. He looks up at Minseok, chin tucked and pouting, “Take care of me, please.”

Minseok laughs, “Of course, damsel in distress.”

If Minseok sees Jongdae blushing, he doesn’t mention it. He does scoff when Jongdae’s pout intensifies upon reaching the head of the trail, eyes wide like plates. 

“You’ll be ok, don’t panic,” Minseok says, punching his shoulder lightly. 

Spoiler alert: he wasn’t. 

Even if the trail was marked with a large green circle, telling about its innocuous nature, Jongdae falls twice and the second time he screams because he was sure he broke something in his leg. He didn’t, but the panic was there and Minseok had to shoulder most of his weight as they made their way out of the trail and back into the skiing station. 

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae apologizes once they are in the log cabin that holds the little coffee shop of the skiing resort. They had to pay a small fee to get into the resort in order to ski, so they are allowed to sit in the large cosy sofas, next to the very warm gas stoves. 

“It’s okay,” Minseok shrugs, putting a delightful white and gold mug full of hot chocolate in Jongdae’s hands. “I take it you don’t like winter sports”

“Sports in general,”

“Why are you always in the bleachers then?”

“Friends and entertainment,” Jongdae says, nodding like he is saying something very serious “You have no idea how funny it is to be there when you are all discussing tactics and the guys and I make up whatever you are saying,” he turns to look to the right, a few tables away, where three girls and two boys sit, no older than seventeen. He leans towards Minseok, discreetly pointing at the group. “Like that, you look at them and what do you think they are talking about?”

“I don’t know”

“Pretend!” Jongdae huffs, exasperatedly, leaning a little bit closer so he can whisper “That girl, the blonde one, she has those chunky and big plastic earrings from the 80s, so my best guess is that she is talking about being born in the wrong generation and how she totally feels in sync with Queen,”

Minseok mouths a voiceless ‘oh’. The blonde girl and the girl next to her, a pretty brunette with dark skin and big eyes, start discussing with each other and the blonde seems angry. 

“The other girl says she is just another Karen and the blonde says ‘you are just jealous because I could have banged Roger Taylor if I lived in the 80s!’” 

Jongdae scoffs, “Ok, you got the hang of it, good student,” he turns to Minseok and notices how close they are. He would lean away but Minseok’s eyes are so beautiful to look at, even more from up close, sparkling like little brown crystals. 

“Since we ‘confessed’” Minseok’s hands do tiny air quotes to emphasize this, “do you think we can like… kiss whenever?”

“Why not?” Jongdae responds and Minseok smiles as he leans to kiss him. It tastes like chocolate and joy. Jongdae likes it. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

The skiing quartet end up spending more hours in the coffee shop than out in the snow. And it’s fun for the most part, they chat and they drink hot choco and coffee and eat enough cookies to feed a small army. The place has a few board games that they lend to the patrons and Seulgi kicks their asses in monopoly while Minseok is left in bankruptcy twice. 

When they get in the car, Minseok turns on the radio and Seulgi suggests they should do a karaoke night in the chalet. 

“You should sing Pass This On,” she says, viciously mutterling the lyrics ‘I’m in love with your brother’ while Sooyoung laughs. 

By the time they make their way back to the chalet, some two hours after sunset, the rest of the people are already making dinner. Chaeyoung and Joohyun setting the table while Seungwan helps Junmyeon on the stove. 

“Casserole is almost ready!” Junmyeon chimes from the kitchen, and Seungwan questions the quality of his cooking. It’s not until they are all seated around the dark wooden table with their mouths full of deliciousness that the chef receives his well deserved praises and needless to say his scallop chicken is a success. 

In the aftermath of a very delicious dinner, the only answer is to sit on the couches and drink some tea and chocolate like the grandpas they have turned out to be. Jongdae decides he wants to sleep in early, too tired after the panic and the fear of dying in the snow, so he waves goodbye to everyone and heads to the room. 

He doesn’t know when Minseok got into the bed, but well into the night Jongdae turns in his sleep only to open his eyes at the feeling of a hand way too close to him. 

“Hi,” Minseok mumbles, half asleep, “What time is it?” 

Jongdae doesn’t even bother to check the clock, but judging by the fact that the house is entirely silent it must be late enough for people to be asleep but not too early for them to wake up. 

“Sleep time,” he responds, not really awake even if his brain fights to see shapes in the darkness. 

Minseok hums, then he shifts. Jongdae thought he was asleep until he felt him speak again, his face close and a bit distinguishable in the darkness. At least he could make up the shape of his face, the long and elegant dip from his right cheekbone to his chin. 

“Can I have a goodnight kiss?”

Jongdae scoffs, “I told you we could kiss whenever.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course,” and he blindly aims in the darkness until he finds Minseok’s soft plush lips and giggles as an arm is thrown over his middle, pushing them together. 

He could get used to this warmth. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

The following night, the peace and quiet game night Jongdae wanted to get out of his friends is destroyed, smashed with a hammer and thrown out of the window. 

“Joohyun found an ice bar two kilometres away, want to go?” Junmyeon says, popping into his room right as he was taking Clue from his suitcase. 

"Ice bar?” he asks and evidently his displeasure is very visible because Junmyeon’s face softens, a sympathetic smile on his lips “I’ll pass.”

“Ok, take care.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jongdae responds, a little bit pissed and a little bit happy. 

Being with his friends is always a good experience, but spending 24/7 with them, having virtually nowhere to be alone, not even for ten minutes, he is not at all displeased with the idea of being alone. Perhaps he can get around to read After God by Peter Sloterdijk and boast to Baekhyun about knowing more shit than him about modern philosophy. 

So Jongdae walks downstairs with the thought that he is alone, whistling the melody of The Room Where It Happens, jumping the last two steps like a child, only to hear a scoff from the living room. He feels livid when he comes across Minseok, one arm thrown over the couch and the other on a red mug. 

“Enjoying yourself there?” he asks, sarcastic to say the least. 

Jongdae approaches the couch with a defeated sigh, enveloping his book with an arm and tugging the edge of his fuzzy cherry red sweater with the other. 

“Yes, I was,” he answers and takes a seat on the other end of the large couch, putting on his round glasses “I thought you’d be gone.”

Minseok shrugs, “There are enough bars in the city, mountains are for relaxing at home.”

“I share the sentiment,” he replies, opens his book and starts to read, legs crossed, one elbow resting on the arm of the couch. 

5 pages into the book, Minseok stands up, 15 pages into the book he returns with a cup of coffee that he sets in front of Jongdae, who thanks with a smile and a nod.

45 pages into the book, Minseok groans, forcing Jongdae to look up from his book, glasses perched a little bit below the bridge of his nose. 

“God, this comment is so out of place but,” Minseok tilts his head, biting his lower lip before releasing it with a clicking sound. Jongdae can’t stop staring at his hand, chin resting on his open palm, elbow perched over his knee. “Jongdae, you look so hot when you are concentrating on something.”

Jongdae chokes on his own saliva, “W-what?”

“Told you it was out of place,” Minseok laughs, leaning back.

“No, well, yes. I mean, thank you?” 

Minseok nods, then they fall silent and Jongdae returns his eyes to the book. 

He can feel how the other man keeps staring at him, he can’t read a single word without feeling those very pretty but very piercing eyes on him. Once he even catches him licking his lips, tilting his head back to expose an elegant and unblemished neck, and Jongdae’s brain short circuits as it wonders how it would feel to have his lips attached to that pale skin, what noises would Minseok make. He slams his book shut. 

“Don’t look at me like that!” he says, punching him in the leg with the strength of a two-year-old child. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Minseok apologizes, but he clearly doesn’t mean it, laughing as he shifts, sitting closer to Jongdae. “You are just really hot, ok?”

Jongdae takes off his glasses, placing them over his book, glaring at Minseok with accusatory eyes. “Did you tell me you like me a few days ago just so you could oogle me comfortably?”

“Maybe I did,” Minseok tilts his head and clicks his tongue “Would you be mad if it was the case?”

“N-no, not really, it’s just…” Jongdae huffs, exasperated by the increasingly horny thoughts that have started to plague his mind. “I’ll say it how it is, having a hot dude looking at you like you are candy is kind of bothering,” he swallows hard, crossing his arms over his chest “...not in the bad way though.”

“Ok,” Minseok smiles at him, something knowing in those intense brown eyes. “Want to have chocolate liqueur? My dad bought immense amounts of it a few years ago and still has a few bottles in the kitchen.”

The shift in the environment is not total, but definitely felt. The sudden offer feels out of context. Jongdae is getting suspicious. Still he nods and Minseok stands up to retrieve two small tumblers and an elegantly shaped bottle of chocolate liqueur. 

“Why are you doing this?” he asks. 

Minseok waves his hand in the air with a flourish, “The greatest of confessions have to be held over a glass of alcohol… or behind a steering wheel.” 

Jongdae squints but grabs the tumbler full of liqueur. 

Minseok sits on the couch, much closer than before, “20 questions, you shoot.” 

“Why do you find me hot?”

“Straight to the point,” Minseok downs the liqueur, smiling “Your profile is very pretty, your nose, your cheekbones…” he gestures vaguely towards him, like he was going to touch his face but regretted it at the last minute. “I saw you a lot in the library, even before I joined the football team, and you always look… different when you read. It’s like you are another person and it’s so sexy… is it weird that I find it sexy?”

Jongdae shrugs, “Everyone is allowed to have a kink” And then he drinks a bit of his own glass and grimaces a bit, the unfamiliar taste shocking him at first even if it turns pleasant afterwards. 

“You are a menace,” the older assures, putting his hand on Jongdae’s leg “My turn, how often do you have sex?”

The sigh coming from Jongdae’s throat is monumental, “Haven’t had sex in sixteen months, next question!”

Minseok’s eyes widen over a smirk, “You are keeping a count?”

“Of course, we need to remember those we fucked and honor them for their sacrifice.”

“You are so weird, I like you so much”

“Thank you, now-” he serves himself another tumbler of dark liquid and swallows it in one swig, putting the glass down before leaning forward “When was your last time?”

Minseok squints one eye, looking elsewhere, “I think it was February two years ago? We both were rejected on Valentine’s Day and it was just a letting off steam kind of thing. We never met again.”

Jongdae smirks, “so… I’m the more experienced”

“You asked last time not how many times, so we may never know,” Minseok shifts a little bit closer, drinking his third shot and offering another to Jongdae. He takes it, moves too, hesitating for a second before Minseok puts a hand on his thigh and he finally gains the courage to throw a leg over his lap, a knee on each side of his body but not quite connected except for their hands, placed on unsuspecting places. 

“The body count must be large then,” he mutters, slowly sitting back on Minseok’s thighs, hands resting on his shoulders. Minseok’s muscles tense under his fingertips, clearly on purpose. 

“I never said that,” Minseok responds, pulling Jongdae closer, stealing a quick kiss from his parted lips. “But do you want to enjoy the experience?”

“I’ll gladly join your titanic-sized body count…” he dodges Minseok’s attempt at a kiss, leaning back to place his hand in his chest, “if we do it upstairs, I’m afraid someone may burst through the door and I wouldn’t be able to live in peace with Seulgi mocking me.”

Minseok scoffs, grabs Jongdae’s neck and whispers in his ear. 

“They won’t need to see you to know what’s happening. They’ll probably hear you from the bar.”

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

The experience of sex with four layers of clothes in between the desperate hands and the wanting skin underneath is… something. The rush to get there, to feel the real warmth that comes with the heat of hormones, the desperation of touching, mapping and scanning, the want fingertips possess, needing to feel every bit, to know every mark and every scar. 

Jongdae can’t say he is content with this, his cock strained in skinny jeans desperate for some kind of attention. Minseok’s delightful fuzzy sweater and the turtleneck underneath and the shirt under that are such an annoying thing that if he were a stupid muscle man he would have attempted to break the fabrics to faster reach the delicious body they hid.

Even if Minseok is a muscle man, waist to shoulder ratio of a dorito and biceps bigger than Jongdae’s head, he doesn’t break his clothes but rather takes his delicious time to take them away. He delects in Jongdae desperation, in the whines that creep up his throat with each passing second, the little noises he makes when cold fingertips brush over the belt of his jeans, brushing his skin for mere seconds before vanishing. Between the heat in his lips, attached to Jongdae’s neck and the coldness of his fingers, Jongdae is caught in a vortex of emotions, imbalanced between too much and not enough. 

When they are finally naked some part of Jongdae’s brain, the more knowing regions of his self, is really glad that the big chalet has internal heating, otherwise the two horny fools would freeze to death. The rest of his mind, the one overflowed with hormones, grows increasingly desperate as Minseok grabs both of his wrists with one hand, pushing them above his head, and sits back, ass brushing Jongdae’s irate dick. 

“God, you are so pretty,” he whispers, features made sharper by the shadows the nightstand lamp casts. He looks so gorgeous like this, but Jongdae is too lost in his need to get those hands away from his wrists and back into his body. 

“Are you going to do something about it?” Jongdae says, whining when Minseok rolls his hips, both of their aching cocks brushing each other in a way that makes them both keen and moan. 

“Of course,” he responds, leaning down to kiss him, filthy and rough, before he stands up to pick something from the nightstand. 

“You brought lube?” an incredulous Jongdae says, pushing his body further back, head over the fluffy pillows near the headboard.

“Nope, Baekhyun gave it to me yesterday,” then he picks a condom from the discarded pocket of his jeans, waving it in the air “This too.”

“And you kept it in your pocket?”

“I was hoping we could use it soon,” he shrugs, climbing back into the bed, arms caging Jongdae’s torso. 

“We  _ are  _ going to use it,” and with two needy hands he grabs him by the neck and forces their bodies to collapse together, kissing desperately. Jongdae hears the pop of the small lube bottle and feels the intrusion in his body right as Minseok bites his lips, effectively distracting him from the pain of the first few fingers. 

“I’m done, come on, put it in,” he demands.

In the face of such neediness, Minseok has the audacity to laugh, “Desperate,” he says, kissing Jongdae’s neck with the clear intent of leaving a mark behind, teeth grazing his skin one too many times to be accidental.

“Yes,” Jongdae whines, holding onto Minseok’s body with desperation, rolling his hips upwards until Minseok moans when their dicks brush. 

When Minseok bottoms out, Jongdae actually screams, nails raking the skin of Minseok’s back harshly. It takes a moment for their bodies to adjust, for Jongdae’s body to feel like it’s not on fire, burning with every touch, ashes left behind but only in the most pleasant of ways. 

Someone whispers ‘move’. Even if comes through Jongdae’s lips he is not entirely sure he said it, but when Minseok does move, slowly, back and forth, he whines and cries out, feeling the delicious burning stretch of his body as it adjusts to the thick dick breaching into him. 

He goes from easy to fast, setting a brutalizing pace until Jongdae cums unexpectedly, untouched and so hard it makes him see stars. Minseok cums shortly after and they stay there, interlocked and panting, sweaty even in the coldness of the night. And it’s fucking great.

“Don’t you dare pull out,” Jongdae says and he intended it to be a demand but it turns out more like a plea. 

“I wasn’t trying to,” Minseok looks so pretty in the dim yellow light, eyes blown wide, a thin layer of sweat over his skin, lips reddened and parted. There is something soft and tender in him, in the way his eyebrows arch when Jongdae circles his waist with his arms, hugging him tightly. He loses sight of him when he buries his face in the crook of his neck, but feels him lose tension, loosen his arms, rolling their entangled bodies until they are resting on their sides. 

“I think I dreamed something like this,” he mutters, Jongdae hums in lieu of a proper question, “A while ago, after a night, a party we both went to. You and I danced too, it was very nice,” Jongdae feels a fleeting kiss to his neck, “I dreamed that I hugged you until we fell asleep.”

Minseok finally pulls out, but Jongdae is needy and desperate even in the afterglow, putting his hand on Minseok’s shoulder, looking at him with demanding eyes. The older laughs, grabbing Jongdae tightly until he manages to shimmy both of them under at least two blankets. 

“Can we stay like this?” Jongdae asks in a voice that is no more than a whisper, as if speaking louder would break the ambiance, would change the way his heart leaps from his chest whenever Minseok smiles. 

“Yes, please,” Minseok snuggles closer, kisses him softly and wraps his arm around Jongdae’s middle. It feels like a moment of never-let-go, Jongdae likes it. 

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀


End file.
